


You can only work with what you have

by Pearlislove



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Gen, Post-Serial: s016 The Chase
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-16 01:09:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13625373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearlislove/pseuds/Pearlislove
Summary: Vicki and The Doctor discussing Barbara and Ian leaving the TARDIS, as well as the fact that Steven has now joined their little team.





	You can only work with what you have

**Author's Note:**

> Jessm78/JunkyardBlueBox wanted something emotional with 1 & Steven & Vicki where 1 doesn't like Steven.
> 
> This was the result.

"Doctor?" Vickie knocked lightly on the door, before allowing herself into the room. The Doctor was already sitting down on the couch, leaning back against the soft pillows. Their cane had been disposed of on a nearby table, and in the warm glow from the lamps on the wall, The Doctor almost looked as kind and loving as Vicki knew he was inside.  
  
"Is something the matter my dear?" The Doctor asked, watching Vicki as she sat down beside him. Vicki shook her head, frowning as she changed her mind and nodded, too.   
  
"Why don't you like Steven, Doctor?" She asked, trying to be delicate but not daring to be indirect, less The Doctor didn't understand what she was referring to.   
  
Since Steven came onboard, joining them when Barbara and Ian left, The Doctor had been very on guard. Even the smallest thing that Steven did would set him off, leaving him completely uncooperative and unreasonably upset for days. That was, he cooperated as normal with Vicki, but ignored Steven.   
  
On their latest mission, Steven had almost gotten hurt. He had tried to warn The Doctor, but he was ignored and in the end he all but sacrificed himself to protect The Doctor. Only reason he had not been more hurt than he did, was because Vicki had managed to catch on and with fine precision smashed a rock on the top of the attackers head when he was going for Steven, who had fallen to the ground.   
  
Everyone, even The Doctor, had been startled by the incident, and they had quickly gotten back inside the TARDIS.   
  
Now, Steven was resting, The Doctor was sulking and Vicki was trying to understand what bothered him so much. Ever the meddler, she thought, but she couldn't say she minded particularly.   
  
"Oh you know perfectly well why I dislike that boy!" Entirely unhelpful, The Doctor dodges the question, simply stating that he dislike him.   
  
Vicki sigh. "That doesn't count. Why can't you be nice to Steven? He saved you today. He is really very nice." She glance at The Doctor, and she can see how troubled he looks.   
  
There's a long silence that follows her statement. The Doctor has closed his eyes, seemingly asleep, and Vicki is adamant not to leave her seat until she got her answers. The wait grow long, but if vicki had ever been anything, it was stubborn.   
  
"He calls me Doc." When The Doctor finally does speak, its with his eyes still shut, and Vicki can't tell what he means.   
  
"Yeah, I know. And it's a bit mean, especially when you've asked him to stop, but surely that can't be why you are so mad?" She looks at The Doctor, her brows deeply furrowed, and she wish The Doctor could be more like a mature adult and look at her.   
  
"I don't like being called Doc, young lady, and that should be enough. Besides, he never did that, now did he? Hmm?" One of The Doctor's eyes pop open, and Vicki finds that The Doctor looking at her wasn't much better than when he wasn't.   
  
"Ian." She says, and suddenly it all fit into place. The Doctor didn't like Steven, because he missed Ian. Because he felt Steven was trying to replace him, and, since he obviously didn't know that he was, he was failing miserably. "You miss Barbara and Ian. You don't want Steven here because if he wasn't it'd be easier to ignore how much you miss them." She concluded, suddenly having all the puzzle pieces click into place as she understood what he was talking about. "Oh Doctor!"   
  
Vicki wanted to hug him. She wanted wrap her arms around him and hold him till he realized that Barbara and Ian moved on for the best of reasons and that Steven was a person all on his own who wasn't trying to replace anybody.   
  
  
But The Doctor was sitting up beside her, looking so cross just because she mentioned Ian's name, and suddenly, she is scared.   
  
Scared That Barbara and Ian has permanently broken Doctor, that he will drive Steven way and that in the end, no one but her will be left.   
  
All alone, like she had always been.   
  
Tears well up in her eyes, and she tries to hold back the hiccuping sobs as she thinks of how selfish it is for her to react this way, when it is The Doctor that is hurting.   
  
"Oh my, my dear girl, come here..." Suddenly alert, The Doctor wraps an arm around Vicki’s shoulders, pulling her close to his chest as he handed her a few napkins from one of his pockets. “There there. No need to be upset, my dear girl. Everything is perfectly alright, isn’t it? Hmm?” The Doctor smiled at her, and had Vickie not been so upset she would have cherished it.

 

“I just...I don't want to be alone, Doctor!” Vicki exclaims, suddenly desperately afraid that she was going to loose Steven and The Doctor. And all because Barbara and Ian chose to leave, chose to go home when they got the chance.

 

_What would they say, if they saw us now?_

 

“Hmm? Leave you alone? Now, why would I do that? No, no. You are too precious to me be left alone.” He smiles, again, The Doctor touching her nose in that way that he only seemed to do with her - like a secret sign of some sort - and despite all she is smiling as the tears pour down her cheeks still.

  


“I know Doctor, but…” Finally having stopped sobbing as much, Vicki tries to explain her thoughts. But before she gets far, she is interrupted.

 

“She thinks we’ll all end up leaving our own way, including throwing her out the TARDIS or something to that effect, because we don’t get along.” Steven stands in the door, talking fast and without looking at either of the other two persons. “Doctor.”  


“What? No, no, I…” The Doctor trails off. Shifting is his seat, his arm still wrapped protectively around Vicki, she thinks he look uncomfortable. Obviously, The Doctor was not used to facing his emotions straight on.

 

“Look, I understand it was hard to have your two friends leave. I won’t pretend I know how it feels to travel on without them. But I was always ready to work with what I got.” Steven pause, sighing and leaning against the wall. “Right now you got me, Doctor, and Vicki. We all just got each other. Do you think you can work with that? I’ll stop calling you Doc, if it makes a difference.” Steven smiles, and Vicki does too.

 

Finally, they were starting to feel like a family.   
Finally, it seemed they were bouncing back from barbara and Ian’s departure.

 

Finally, The Doctor smiles as well. He hum and nod and seem to agree. “Hmm, yes, yes it’ll be fine my dear boy. Just fine. Hmm, yes it will.” The Doctor squeezes Vicki’s shoulders in comfort, and Vicki give Steven a blinding smile, mouthing out ‘thank you’.

 

Vicki had been scared to be alone, but now she knew, that with a family like the one in the TARDIS, she could never be alone.


End file.
